A month after the conservation commission ordered the removal of a Chilmark house perched on an eroding bluff, the commission Wednesday heard plans for the home’s removal: the guest house is slated to come down immediately, with the main house dismantled in phases depending on the rate of erosion.
The 650-square-foot summer home on Stonewall Beach, owned by Natalie Conroy, stood eight feet from a cliff in late February. Ms. Conroy applied to move the house nine and a half feet back from the bluff, an application the commission denied because it would encroach on wetlands.

The future of the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks is looking bright — and a lot more comfortable, too.

When the Sharks, who play in the wooden-bat Futures Collegiate Baseball League, begin their third season in June, they will do so at a much-improved home field, situated at the regional high school.

Island selectmen joined volunteers Wednesday to deliver Meals on Wheels, part of an annual campaign to raise awareness of the program. Last year the Meals on Wheels program increased by almost 30 per cent, with 50 volunteers delivering almost 30,000 meals to home-bound seniors from Aquinnah to Chappaquiddick. Those interested in donating their time to the cause should contact Heidi Dietterich at 508-693-4393, extension 192.

Walking west on East Chop Drive on a tranquil spring morning, the only indication of trouble is a short metal gate with a spray-painted detour sign. The pavement is remarkably free of potholes and the two-lane road appears intact as far as the eye can see.

March madness is not just a college basketball tournament. It is also a season in flux. When spring wants to take center stage but winter refuses to go quietly. When the call of the pinkletink is interrupted by a late frost, when snowdrops rub shoulders with frozen pipes.

And yet it is also the time of the NCAA basketball tournament. With this in mind, the following bracket invites one and all to choose an eventual victor in this battle between the seasons.

The editors have made their picks.

long long long legs

pink pulsating noses

smooth hooves smelling of sweetness

they were the embodiment

of beauty in life

More than a year ago when the Gazette asked me to write a column, I jumped at the opportunity. After all, this is a writer’s paper and I am what’s known as an ink-stained wretch. Back in the day, I worked for another paper that promoted and showcased good writing. It was the Boston Phoenix, which ceased publication on March 15 after 47 years of operation.

I began my high school teaching career in 1992 following a stint in the Oak Bluffs School and an alternative school so I guess this year I come of age. I have 21 years of growing, struggling always to do better, of working and living with this community. It is time to reflect. There is so much to be thankful for in this richly diverse culture where I have found support from so many whose love for our children is indeed boundless.

In 2013 can any community on earth surrounded by the ocean remain passive in the face of unmistakable climate change? If you don’t trust your own memory and sense of the weather to tell you something’s changed, there’s more than enough accurate, trustworthy analysis and predictions out there. But there’s no substitute for direct experience like ours of the last two years. This has been not slow and steady change that we can adapt to smoothly but more like sudden chaos.

On March 28 in Gloucester, a fisheries hearing will take place regarding perhaps the most iconic and traditional of all Vineyard fish: the magnificent Broadbill Swordfish. The federal government has recently proposed a new open-access permit that would allow small-boat fishermen to retain and sell swordfish caught by rod and reel or harpoon. By strictly regulating large, industrial-scale vessels, U.S. swordfish have recently become a shining example of responsible and successful management, with all current science pointing to fully-rebuilt stocks.